He had gone back to the bay in an attempt to remove a bomb that had hung up. But, in trying to disengage it, he fell out of the open bay. They were flying at about 8,000 feet, as I recall.
He dropped about fifty feet -- into a snow bank on a mountainside.
Got up. Dusted himself off. And, once the sun came up, walked down the mountain.
Has anyone else heard this World War II Attu story? If you have any additional details I would be very interested in hearing them. I have collected a lot of similar stories (and the corresponding supporting evidence), but this one is turning out to be a tough one to substantiate. I have contacted several experts on the Aleutian campaign and no one has heard of it.
If you want to see other similar stories, please check out the Free Fall Research page at http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffresearch.html